Ban on export of federal logs urged at Western

Wood Products Assn. convention

D) OBERT F. HIGGINS,44, vp. and r\ manager of Medford, Corp. (Medco), Medford, Ore., has been elected the new president of the Western Wood Products Assn. at their annual Spring meeting that drew a record crowd of more than ll00 lumber producers and wholesalers to the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.*

In other business, the association committees worked on problems of log exports, increasing lumber prices, dwindling supplies, and the declining harvest in the National Forests, among other topics.

The directors moved to strengthen existing federal legislation by prohibiting export of all logs from federal timberlands.

In the final session of their Mar. 7-9 Spring. meeting, WWPA supported an extension of the Morse Amendment to include a ban on all 'log exports from federal lands.

The Morse Amendment to the Foreiga Aid Act of 1968 regtricts to 350 million board feet annually the export of logs from federal lands in the West. [t was extended once by Congress and is due to expire Eecember 31, 1973.

*Donald, l. Higgins, 58, brother ol the new presid,ent and himsel clwirman ol the qwlity standards commit. tee ot' WWPA was killed March 8, in a trallic acci.d,ent tlwt hilled another passenger and lclt his widow and, a lourth Wsenger in their car serinusly injured,. Donnlil Higgins had just been nameil new president ol the United Wholesal,e Lumber Co, Montebell.o, Co., replrcing Daui.d, Steintnetz, who lwd, planned to retire. His obitwry appears on p. 48 ol this issue.-Edinr.

Lumbermen also supported the principle that a regulation be developed immediately to control the substitution of federal timber for logs exported from private lands. The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of all issues.

Sfory d] s Glonce

Prohibition of federol log exports urged of WWPA's biggesl Spring meeting ever . despite o drop in housing stqrts ond lumber consumption, "second besl yeor on record" is foreseen tor '73 Roberl Higgins elecled presidenl, R. M. Steele I sl vp., Vern L. Gurnsey 2nd vp. of the Western group.

A slight drop in 1973 housing starts from '?2's record high was predicted by WWPA exec. vp. H. A. Roberts who said he looked fior'73 housing starts to level ofi at 2 milliono down 4 hundred thousand from 1972. However, he said, lumbermen could expect the reduced lumber use to be offset by increases in demand for lumber for remodeling, repair and industrial uses.

Forecasting that '73 would be o'the second beet year on record," Roberts further predicted that 1973's total lumber consumption would be 38.3 billion board feet, down 2.3 billion from the '72 level. He noted that the association?s 1972 prediction for total consumption was only 5 million board feet ofi actual figures for the year.

The forecast set coastal mill production Iot '73 at 300 million board fuet less than a year ago and inland mill production to be off,[00 million board feet for the same period.

Other officers elected, along with Robert Higgins, who succeeded John C. Hampton, president of the Willa. miha Lumber Co., Portland, who served for 18 monthso was lst vp. R. M. Steele, corporate vp., wood products group, Potlatch Forests, Inc., San Francisco, who moves up {rom' 2nd.vp.

Elected 2nd vp. was Vern L. Gurnsey, vp., Boise Cascade Corp., Boise, Idaho. Robert J. DeArmond, Idaho Forest Industries, Inc., Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, was elected treasurer

Higgins presently serves on the board and executive committee of WWPA and the National Forest Products Assn. as well as the board of the American Wood Council.

He also is a present and past mem. ber of various committees of those groups as well as the American Plywood Assn. and'the American Forest Institute. He is past president of the Southern Oregon Timber Industries Assn. Higgins resides in Medford with his wife, Patricia, and four children.

Steele is a Certified Public Accountant who has been directly associated with the lumber industry since 1951, serving three,firms before join. ing Potlatch in 1963. In 1965, he was named administrative assistant and advanced in 1967 to general manager, Western operations, wood products division, before assuming his present post with the firm in 1968. He serves on WWPA's board of directors, executive committee and operations committee. He resides in San Francisco.

The meeting was the biggest of the Spring meetinp since their inception in 1965. WWPA approved Newport Beach, Ca., Sept. 22-26, as the site of their Fall meeting.